36 well funded companies with small teams

and behind the scenes from next play

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Note for friends of next play:

• This is a new section we’re adding to give friends of next play additional insight into how we’re thinking about the next steps for the network (a bit meta if you think about it).

• Right now, we are mainly focused on trying to bring as much value as possible to people in the network—that means creating more useful resources (e.g. written guides), sourcing more unique opportunities (under-the-radar roles), and making more helpful connections (more matching, gatherings, etc.). This ends up being quite a bit of manual work (as soon as we reach inbox zero, it starts filling up again)—but it feels very meaningful and impactful.

• We also have some low-hanging ideas…for example, creating video content for TikTok and Instagram. We hope to make meaningful progress in those channels over the next few months.

• We also have some more out there ideas:

  • What if we brought 5-10 companies to a virtual demo day of sorts, and had them pitch their open roles to you all (and perhaps some guest investors and operators who could ask follow up questions)?

  • What if we partnered with the best resume reviewer or best negotiation coach and tried to help people in the network access those sorts of services in a straightforward manner?

• We are really thankful for the feedback we have received thus far, but we really think the next 12 months could be transformative for the network. So stay tuned (and be sure to give us feedback or ideas if you have any—hi@nextplay.so).

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Here’s a list of 36 companies who’ve raised $50-100M and still have less than 150 employees:

1. HeyGen - AI video generation platform (Bay Area/LA/Toronto) | hiring page

2. Fireworks AI - Enterprise AI inference platform (Bay Area/NYC) | hiring page

3. Radiant - Portable nuclear power generator (El Segundo) | hiring page

4. Regard - EHR analytics platform (NYC) | hiring page

5. Captions - AI video production tools (NYC) | hiring page

6. ScaleOps - Cloud optimization (Tel Aviv) | hiring page

7. Standard Bots - Automated manufacturing robot (US remote/NY) | hiring page

8. Apex - Customizable satellite manufacturer (LA) | hiring page

9. Volley - Voice gaming platform (Bay Area) | hiring page

10. Peak Energy - Battery storage systems (Burlingame) | hiring page

11. Fetcherr - Airline pricing AI platform (Poland/TLV/Atlanta) | hiring page

12. Decagon - Gen AI customer support (Bay Area) | hiring page

13. Cortex - Internal developer portal (US remote) | hiring page

14. Protect AI - AI security monitoring (US remote/Seattle/Bangalore) | hiring page

15. Contextual AI - Enterprise RAG applications (Bay Area/NYC) | hiring page

16. Supabase - Open source database (Remote) | hiring page

17. Chaos Labs - Crypto protocol security (NYC/remote) | hiring page

18. Basecamp Research - GPT for biology (Boston/London) | hiring page

19. Second Front Systems - Secure software deployment (US remote) | hiring page

20. Oshi Health - Virtual GI care service (US remote) | hiring page

21. Muon Space - Earth monitoring satellite (Virginia/Bay Area/DC/Remote) | hiring page